mule Annie McQuillan, Lillian Cameron, and Greg Wynne. We six were destined to remain together for the remainder of our school days in New Haven. I excelled in reading, spelling, and composition -- a fact that accounted for my rapid promotion. Unfurtunately, my mathematical skills remained at the Second Primer level. Throughout my school career, I never managed to attain real proficiency in arithmetic. Other subjects: English, history, geography, and geometry helped me pull through. ,

We looked forward to Friday afternoons when we would choose sides for a spelling match, and at times for a history or a geography match. We all took a very serious interest in those events, and the rivalry often became quite intense. Since Jennie and I were the best spellers, we usually captained the opposing teams. At the beginning, the teacher supplied the words, but after a time she decided to let us provide our own material. Naturally, we searched the speller and the dictionary for the most difficult words consistent with the knowledge level of the group as a whole.

After a pupil had missed two words, he or she had to drop out; usually the end of a half-hour saw only Jennie and me remaining on the floor. We always came equipped with a list of really difficult words for this final test. Occasionally, one of us was counted out after a brief exchange, but, more frequently, the match had to be terminated by the teacher propounding increasingly difficult words until one of/s tumbled.

The geography matches consisted mainly in locating various cities, lakes, mountains and rivers on .the map; the history contests dealt with important events, dates, and prominent figures in Canadian and English history.

We had speedily adapted to the school routine with its pattern of Successes and failures. We had become a part of it; or perhaps it would

be more nearly correct to say that it had become a part of us. If we’ had